


The Queen and her Rook

by jcshipperj



Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Domestic Bliss, F/M, Marriage, Older Man/Younger Woman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-30 16:51:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15101000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jcshipperj/pseuds/jcshipperj
Summary: This is a series of One Shots based on a writing project called „Intimacies“ I „borrowed“ from a German fanfiction site. It is no related story. Each point of the list will be a single One Shot in an alternative universe in which Victoria and Melbourne were able to overcome all difficulties and got married. This is their happy life, as it should have been. Please notice the first chapter where you will find the list.





	1. The List

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt to write about Vicbourne in English. I apologize beforehand if some things could perhaps cause some irritation to English mother tongues for I am writing in German and put the text into a translation tool afterwards. I hope you might like it nevertheless. ;)  
> Kudos, reviews, suggestions and appropriate criticism are always welcome. Happy reading!

The List

„Intimities"

• One sees the other wearing his clothes  
• Holding hands  
• One washes the hair of the other  
• One falls asleep in the lap of the other  
• Cuddling in a Cushion Cave (Blanket Fort - when building a cave or a castle with cushions, blankets, chairs etc.)  
• Sharing a bed  
• Scrub the other's head / hair  
• Share a dessert  
• Rub against each other's shoulder  
• Reading a book together  
• Take care of each other while ill  
• Take care of a wound to the other  
• Take a bath together  
• Play with the hair of the other  
• Accidently fall asleep together  
• Forehead or cheek kisses  
• Tie / make the jewelry / tie / bow tie to the other one  
• Back scratcher  
• Take care when the other one is crying over something  
• Dance slowly  
• Massage each other


	2. Scrub the others head/hair

It was a gray, cloudy and wet cold autumn day in November 1840, which did not necessarily invite people to spend too long outdoors, but in the greenhouse of Buckingham Palace there was both a comfortable temperature and peaceful silence. By now, Victoria had grown accustomed to the damp heat that much of the plants growing here needed so much to thrive. All her favorite flowers were here, from lilies to gardenias to her beloved orchids. But most of all, it was a place where she could spend time alone and undisturbed with her husband, keeping him company, or sometimes offering a helping hand while attending to one of his favorite hobbies, gardening.

As often as she had spent time with him in the past nine months she was now married to William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, she never tired of watching him carefully, precisely and downright touching taking care of plants and incidentally an extremely appealing view offered; today he wore a pair of beige trousers and the purple-patterned waistcoat she loved to look at, over a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. She admired his sinewy, dark-haired forearms and the protruding veins on the back of his hands, which she had always found unbelievably attractive to him, but which in his opinion were merely a sign of his advanced age. The black tie had slipped and the knot was half-loosened.

Against its rather untidy appearance, she looked completely out of place in her night-blue silk dress with black lace collar and artfully hair. But even though his big hands were almost black from burrowing in soil and topsoil, and his body exerted weak beads of sweat on his forehead in the sweltering heat, that was no reason for Victoria to give up body contact. Every now and then she reached out to gently wipe the moisture, and sometimes even bits of soil, from his cheeks and temples as he knelt beside her on the ground and plucked weeds in the beds, watered them, or patted flowers. She liked to slide her fingers through his thick brown curls, brush sweat wet strands from his forehead, and use her fingertips to gently scrub his neck below the hairline. Such small intimacies she could only allow herself, if they were in the seclusion of their premises in the palace or just here and these freedoms she could not take, no matter how dirty and sweaty he might be.

After using the last new seedlings, covering them with fresh soil and watering them, he rose with a long sigh and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

"I think I'll need a bath and fresh clothes before dinner."

Victoria set aside the book she had read in, got up too, and approached him with an almost mischievous smile on her face.

"How about if I would help you with that?"

Melbourne carelessly threw away the rag with which he had freed his hands from the grossest dirt and pulled his wife into a tender hug. She put her small hands to his broad chest and he tilted his head down to her, whispering in his unmistakably deep, slightly hoarse voice, which always drove her mad with desire.

"Gladly, but only if you come in the tub."

"That's safe to set up," she murmured before gently kissing him. His hands, cautiously holding her face as if she were made of the most precious, fragile porcelain, smelt of earth and felt pleasantly cool and rough on her heated skin. She covered them with her own and breathed the lightest kisses in his palms, not bothered by the fact that they were still not completely clean.

Then he grabbed his coat, which he had laid over a nearby chair before work began, pulled him over quickly and left his arm around Victoria’s shoulders the greenhouse to return to the palace, where he immediately had the necessary bath to be rebuilt.


	3. Take a bath together

The required bath had been prepared in the blink of an eye in the room of the husband of the queen. The scent of lavender rising from the big, steaming copper tub filled the room. Melbourne briefly put a hand in the tub to check the water temperature and found it was just right. His faithful butler had been in his service long enough to know how his master liked his bathwater best. He slipped off his shoes, removed his shirt and pants, then sank into the pleasantly warm water with a comforting sigh, leaned back, his arms resting on the edge of the tub, and closed his eyes. Gradually, his muscles, aching from hours of work in unfamiliar posture, relaxed. I seem to be getting too old for such activities, he thought partly amused, partly wistful. The times when he had gotten up in the morning refreshed and energetic, eagerly faced the challenges of the day, and had fallen into bed tired and exhausted in the evening were irrevocably over. On some days, as today, he realized the full extent of his age, whereas his young, beautiful wife shone in the prime of her youth and impressed everyone she met with her vitality, happiness and unique aura. The fact that they would not be able to spend their twilight years with each other, but that Victoria would live on without him for many years to come, always made him feel tight in his chest. Although he did not try to indulge himself in such negative thoughts too often, they were never completely ignored, hovering over his head like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. It was and remained an unalterable certainty that he had to learn to live with, but under no circumstances did he want to burden Victoria unnecessarily. It was going to be hard enough for her when it finally happened. 

He was so engrossed in his sad thoughts that he did not notice the door opening that linked his apartment to Victoria's and that she had crept in on bare feet, wearing only the white, tight shirt she wore under the corset and that reached down to her knees. It was only when he heard the rippling of the water that he realized that he was no longer alone. He must have looked quite surprised, because Victoria, who was now sitting across from him in the tub fortunately big enough for both of them, looked at him slightly skeptical. Apparently she wondered if her presence was even welcome.

"You look so surprised. I thought you were serious when you said that I should get in the tub.“

„But of course I meant it“, he hurried to explain and slipped over to her. "I was just with my thoughts elsewhere and did not hear you come in, that's all. For nothing in the world would I miss a bath with my beautiful wife.“ He gathered her long loosened hair, wet on the tips, into a braid, laid it over her back and kissed her bare shoulder. 

She turned her face to him and hid her nose in his damp curls, taking in his scent deeply, now fresh and clean again, no longer earthy and sweaty. "Hmmm," she purred, sounding almost like a contented, sleepy kitten. "You smell good." 

He chuckled softly, his face buried in the crook of her neck, a short, throaty sound she could feel from the vibration of his chest, where her knees nestled. "Thank you, likewise." His hands groped underwater for one of her small feet, lifting it up and gently massaging her. Victoria leaned back, closing her eyes and enjoying the touch. "That feels good." 

His experienced fingers worked her sole all the way to the heel, then switched to the instep to the toes, kissing each one, taking her big toe in his mouth, and gently sucked what did made her giggle. "And now it tickles." She pulled her foot away from him, leaned forward against him, gently rubbing her cheek against the soft, dark hair that covered his chest, tugging gently with her fingertips. She sighed softly and raised her head to look at him. "I wish we could stay here forever, just you and me.“ 

He grunted in agreement and removed a thin strand of hair from her face, caressed her forehead. "That would be wonderful, but unfortunately we get guests for dinner later. It would not be very polite to unload them at short notice.“ 

„No, probably not. And I have to get ready too. But still that has time. Now I just want to enjoy sitting here with you for a while and have you all alone for myself.“

His beautiful green eyes looked at her intently, and her heart pounded faster, as it always did when he looked at her like that, his eyes filled with all the love, affection, and tenderness he felt for her. Slowly she closed her eyes, her full, rosy lips parted and he interpreted her request correctly. They kissed deeply and passionately, touching and caressing each other until the slow-cooling water forced them to leave the tub to get dressed and prepared for their soon-to-arrive guests.


End file.
